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POETRY
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Background to the Romantic Movement
Definition of Romanticism
Salient Features of Romanticism
Early Romantic Poets
27.5.1 James Thomson (1700-1748)
27.5.2 Mark Akenside (172 1-1770)
27.5.3 Joseph Warton (1722-1800)
27.5.4 William Collins (1721-1759)
27.5.5 Thomas Gray (1716-71)
27.5.6 William Cowper (1731-1800)
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
27.6.1 The Use of Folk Song
27.6.2 Themes
27.6.3 Form
27.6.4 Vocabulary
27.6.5 Rhyme
27.6.6 Love Poems
William Blake (1757-1827)
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
27.8.1 Wordsworth's Theory of Poetry
27.8.2 Wordsworth's Practice of his Theory
27.8.3 Wordsworth's Partnership with Coleridge
S.T. Coleridge (1772-1834)
The Second Generation of Romantic Poets
27.10.1 Lord Byron (1788-1824)
27.10.2 P.B. Shelley (1 792-1822)
27.10.3 John Keats (1795-1821)
Summing Up
Questions for Comprehension
Suggested Reading
Answers to Exercises
27.0 OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this unit are to:
1) '
provide a comprehensive view of the Romantic Movement, its beginnings, its
sources of inspiration, its important features, its major figures and their
contributions.
2) enable you to analyse, identify and appreciate Romantic poetry, and
3) make you realise the importance of the Romantic Movement in English
literature as a significant and fruitful literary epoch.
27.1 INTRODUCTION
-.
This unit introduces you to the Romantic Movement in England. It deals with the
political, social, literary and other factors which brought about this movement; it
considers various definitions of the term, 'Romanticism'; it devotes a good part to a
discussion of the salient features of Romanticism. The work of the early romantic
poets is covered in section 27.5. Then the major romantic poets and their
Romantic Poets contribution to the movement are discussed in detail. After providing an account of
Robert Burns's use of the folk song and William Blake's use of mysticism and
symbolism, the unit moves on to the major figures of the Romantic Movement in
England, William Wordsworth and Samuel Tylor Coleridge, who are deemed to be
the pioneers of Romantic poetry in English. After a brief survey of Wordsworth's
work, his theory of poetry as stated in the Preface (1800) to Lyrical Ballads is
examined critically. The literary partnership between Wordsworth and Coleridge and
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their later differences are considered with reference to Coleridge's Biographia
Literaria. The deviations from his stated principles in the actual writing of
Wordsworth's poetry are briefly illustrated. A section is set apart for Coleridge's
poetry and criticism. The last section of the unit introduces you to the second
generation of Romantic poets, Byron, Shelley and Keats.
The lesson provides self-check exercises at the end of each important section so that
you can assess your comprehension of the material presented. Questions covering the
entire lessoil are given at the end of the unit.
The major points discussed in the lesson are recapitulated briefly in "Summing up"
The unit concludes with a suggested reading list which is a selected and annotated
bibliography relevant to the subject matter of the unit.
The French Revolution received enthusiastic support in the beginning fiom the
liberals and radicals in England. The Declaration of the Rights of Man by the French
National Assembly was welcomed. Edmund Burke disapproved the events in France
in his Reflection on the Revolution in France (1790). Tom Paiiie issued a spirited
rejoinder to Burke in his Rights ofMan (1791-92). Tom Paine pleaded for a '
democratic republic for England by peaceful or violent means. Another book,
Inquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793) by William Godwin made a great impact
on Wordsworth, Shelley and others. Godwin predicted that eventually all property
would be distributed equally and all government would disappear. Later events in the
French Revolution, notably the execution of the royal family, the guillotine of
innocent people during the Reign of Terror, and Napoleon's dictatorship disenchanted
the early supporters.
The economic sphere also saw great convulsions. The manufacturing class became
more powerful than the agricultural class. With the .invention of James Watt's steam
engine which replaced wind and water as sources of energy in 1765, there was a
revolutionary change in the means and pace of production. The population of
England was becoming either owners and traders or wage earners without property.
Thus the people were effectively divided into the rich and the poor. With the
introduction of more machinery into industry, there was more unemployment. The
, soldiers demobilised after the French wars aggravated the labour m'kkef. There was
an economic depression in 1815 caused by the fall in 'wartime demand for
manufactured goods, These political, economic and social factors caused agftations
and riots by the working class. The ruling class responded by more repressive
measures. The unrest culminated in passing the Reform Bill which met thc political
of at least some sections of the population.
There were important developments in other spheres also. Capt. Jaines Cook
circumnavigated the globe (1768-7 1) and discovered Australia and the Sandwich
Islands. Fascinating accounts of life in the South Seas led to a re-thinking on the
nature of society and the political systems. Ocean travel became safer with Cook's
accurate charting of the coastlines.
The exploitation of new markets in India and elsewhere gave a fillip to commerce.
This in turn led to the development of industry and tcchnology. The disseinination of
ideas kept pace with the improvements in the conlmunications network. The
pamphlet became a powerful means for debating controversial issues. For instance,
the debate on the French Revolution was conducted through pamphlets. Eventually
the pamphlet was replaced by the periodical for debate on political rcforms further.
Parliamenta~yRefoim was inspired by the achievement of the middle class in France.
Public opiilion in England favoured representation to big towns leading to the
passage of the Reform Bill.
The Romantic writers lived through such inomentous changes in the political,
economic, social and literary spllcres. The idea of revolution informed the Roinantic
Movement from the beginning. Many inajor writers of this period were aware that
great changes were taking place around thein and that these changes would inevitably
find their way into literature also. The French Revolution seeined to be the great
divide and the beginning of a new era in thc history of mankind. William Hazlitt
rightly observed in his book, Tlie S'jirit of llze Age. "There was a mighty ferment in
the heads of statesmen and poets, kings and people.. .. It was a time of promise, a
renewal of the world - and of letters".
Self-check Exercise 1
The term, 'romantic', was first used in the late seventeenth century to describe
paintings with certain bizarre qualities. When Le Tourneur referred to Shakespeare
as a romantic writer, he meant that the English playwright was not a neo-classic
writer. What is meant by a romantic writer is one who insists, implicitly or
otherwise, on his own uniqueness. In the Age of Reason, many writers said that they
represented their age. Thiswas not so with the Romantics. Wordsworth and
Coleridge who worked together for sometime never applied the term, "romantic", to
themselves. Goethe defined "classic" as good health and "romantic" as sickness.
This distinction is more psychological than aesthetic and it has received much
currency. Around 1800, when Madame de Stab1introduced German romantic
literature into France,~sh~stressed the medieval and chs~stianqualities in that
literature. These qualities replaced rationalism and agnosticism of the Age of
Reason. She felt that the aridity of the eighteenth century was over and that the new
literature celebrated the open heart. Heine, the German poet, held an opposite view.
Victor Hugo described romanticism as 'liberalism in literature'. The important point
is that romanticism has political overtones.
The term implies a literary and philosophical theory which tends to see the individual
at the very center of all life and all experience. The individual is placed at the center I
of art. Literature is therefore an expression of his unique feelings and particular
attitudes.
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As Thrall and his associates say, romanticism, "places a high premium upon the Introduction
creative function of the imagination seeing art as a formulation of intuitive
imaginative perceptions that tend to speak a nobler tilth than that of fact, logic, or the
here and now." Romanticism spread through most of Western Europe in the
and nineteenth centuries. It affected literature, art, music, philosophy,
religion and politics.
1t may be more easy to understand the tenn, 'romanticism', by examining its salient
features in the next section.
Self-check Exercise 2
3. How did Goethe differentiate the two terms, 'Classic', and 'romantic'?
Self-check Exercise 3
1. Explain the basic difference between the Neoclassical and Romantic theories
of poetry.
27.5.1 James Thomsoll (1700-1748) took a deep interest in nature. His poem, "The
Seasons" (1730), evokes interest in the processes of nature. He is fascinated
by the fearful aspects of nature such as floods and stoims. He is described as
"a poet of pictorical landscape". E-Ie spealcs of the interactions between man
and Nature in "Tlze Seasorts". The great variety and beauty ofNature move
him deeply. The following lines remind LISof Wordsworth:
27.5.4 William Collins (1721-1759) exercised pervasive influence on almost all the
Romantic poets. He finds that landscape evokes ideas and emotions. He p a r t i c u l ~ l ~
loves Nature at twilight. His "Ode to Evening" is the forerunner of Keats's "To
Autumn". Romantic tendencies such as a return to the past and anti-intellectualism
may be noticed in his "Ode on Popular Superstitions". Coleridge is impressed with
Collins's use of superstitions and classical legends. Collins's favourtie theme of the
twilight scene is illustrated in the following lines:
Gray's later writings indicate the swing in the taste towards Medieval literature and
Scandinavian folklore. His letters anticipate the Romantics' love of scenery and
nature. He records the different moods of nature in charming detail. Such .
descriptions paved the way for Wordsworth's memorable descriptioils of nature.
Here is a short piece from Gray:
"In the evening walked alone down to the lake by the side of Crow Park after sunset
and saw the solemn colouring of night draw on, the last gleam of fading away on the
hill-tops, the deep seiene of the waters, and the long shadows of the mountains
thrown across them, till they nearly touched the hithermost shore. At distance heard
the murmur of many waterfalls not audible in the daytime".
(Journal in the Lakes)
Scottish patriotism in the eighteenth century longed for independence and unity. It
seized upon any symbol of its uniqueness. Burns went in search of the Scottish .
ballad tradition both to oppose and reject the English culture. He is probably the best
eighteenth c e n t u , ~example of the influence of folk poetry on the mainstream English
poetry. There are twb tendencies in Burns's life:
Romantic Poets the cultivated tradition of polite poetry in the eighteenth century.
I.
2. peasant poetry about peasants among whom he lived.
Bums did not believe in any rules of composition. His poetry was strongly
influenced by folk poetry. The folk elements in his poetry are:
27.6.2 Themes
The themes are generally death, birth, youth, old age, love and grief. Seasonal
activities like harvesting and May dances and seasonal chsnges like snowfall are also
used. Settings and dramatic situations are often stylized. Tableaus repeating certain
fixed scenes occur in folk poetry.
The form of folk poetry is that of a debate, a series of riddles or tests. Birds and
flowers are given human qualities. Number three is significant; three riddles, three
actions, etc.
The vocabulary is simple. Many stock phrases, are used. Because of the oral origins
of folk poetry, stock phrases and patterns aided the memory of the oral poet. Formal
devices such as the refrain impose limits on language in folk poetry and indicate its
origin in dance.
27.6.5 Rhyme
Folk poetry is not rigid in its use of rhyme as Neoclassical poetry was. Assonance,
alliteration and internal rhyme are common in this poetry. Observe these poetic
devices in the following line of Burns:
Bums wrote many traditional and also original songs, but he wrote only three long
poems. There was a movement favouring the short, pointed lyric.
Bums wrote a poem entitled "To a Mouse", which is certainly a lowly subject.
Writing on such subjects was against the grain of Neo-classicism. b o t h e r poem,
"The Cotter's Saturday Night", shows his interest in the humble people. He had
sympathy for the oppressed, sharing the ideals of the French Revolution. He had
expressed dangerous sentiments such as the following just before the Revolution:
Bums's greatest poems are his love poems. They are also influenced by folk poetry.
Repetition as a poetic device to produce an incantatory effect may be found in: MY
Luve is like a Red, Red Rose". Neo-classical poets like Pope avoided repetition for Introduction
the sake of economy and for the progression of ideas.
Another poem of Bums, "Ye Flowery Banks" is a lament which presents a native
view of nature. In this girl's song, the traditional rose-thorn image is used to indicate
loss of chastity. Happy nature is contrasted with the melancholy speaker and there is
a return to the place of former happiness. Bums resorts to suggestion rather than
direct statement in this as well as in other poems. These are all intimations of
Romanticism.
The range of Bums's love-songs is great. He could write of love from his personal
experience and from a woman's point of view. He could write of love in old age with
equal charm. Male protectiveness appears repetitively in many of his love songs
including "A Red, Red Rose". Patriotism is another recurring theme in his songs.
"Auld Lang Syne" is called "the world's greatest song of human fellowship and
friendship".
Though Bums's poetry is based on local people and situations, he is not a 'regional'
poet in any narrow sense. He stresses the elemental, the universal and the permanent
moods and thoughts in all humanity. He used the real language of man as he found it
in the folk literature of his country and thus showed the path to Wordsworth. His use
of lowly subjects and simple diction was a worthwhile example to Wordsworth and
through him to other Romantic poets.
Self-check Exercise 5
1.. What Romantic tendencies are present in Burns's poetry?
- -- -- -
-
- - - - -
How can we say that Bums sympathised with the French Revolution?
Blake was a man of vision who saw ultimate truth at moments of great illumination.
Vision is for him the great secret of life. Ilis entire work - poetry or painting - is an
attempt to develop this faculty of vision so that man may see to understand and
thereby forgive and act rightly.
His Songs of Irrnocence (1789), created through a new process called "illuminated
printing1', are examples of originality. He equated his extreme sense of freedom and
happiness to the condition of childhood. In these poems, he says that childhood is the
original state of happiness, self-enjoyment and unity. In his Songs of Experience
(1794) he expresses his deep indignation at the hypocrisy and cruelty in the world. In
The Marriage ofHeaven and Hell, he affirms the re-integration of the human soul
divided by Innocence (Heaven) and Experience (I-Iell) through Imagination.
Blake's poetry and painting are didactic. He wanted people to free themselves from
convention and tradition and to depend on their own intuition to realize their
potential. The mystical tone, the symbols, the revolutionary ideas and the newness of
his art made people think that he was a lunatic. Ile was more revolutionary in
themes, diction and technique than Burns or Wordsworth, but his genius was not
recognised in his lifetime. He carved a place for himself in World literature because
he swam against the current by defying reason in an age of Reason and because he:
gave importance to intuition and imagination in an age of scientific skepticism.
. Self-check Exercise 6 \
Wordsworth is better known for his short poems like "Tintein Abbey" and
"Immortality Ode" than for his long and ambitious works. "Tintem Abbey" recounts
three stages in the development of the poet's love of nature; (1) sensuous animal
passion, (2) moral influence, and (3) mystical communion. "Michael" deals with the
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sturdiness of character and nature's healing power. The five "Lucy Poems" are also
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popular. In "Ode on Intimations of Immortality", Wordsworth attributes a child's
wisdom and glory to the unconscious memory of a previous life. "Resolution and
I Independence" is yet another inemorable poem. Wordsworth influenced modem
thinking on the natural goodness of childhood, the moral value of simple living and
the inspiring and healing powers of nature. Wordsworth seems to have attempted to
I translate into action both in his life and in his work the principle: "Simple living and
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high thinking". (A separate unit on Wordsworth discusses in detail his poetic
1 achievement).
First, the question of the subject matter.' "Incidents and situations fiom cominon life" ,
are chosen. Wordsworth thought that rustic and humble life is better suited for "the
essential passions of the heart". He believed that the emotions of the rural people are
simpler, purer and perhaps better than those ofstbecity-dweller. He also thought that
people living in the midst of nature have a better moral attitude, and they become part
of the sense of divinity present in nature.
Ronrantic Poets
The second innovation is the use of "a selection of language really used by men".
Wordsworth attacked the so-called poetic diction of an earlier generation. Poetic
diction is a painstaking invention and hence far removed f;om the living speech of
ordinary people. The common speech or a selection of it, Wordsworth felt, is more
appropriate to describe the incidents and situations from common life. Throughout
the preface Wordsworth repeatedly states that "simple and unelaborated express'ions~~
as his choice. "My purpose was to imitate, and as far as possible, to adopt the very
language of men; and such personifications [of abstract ideas] do not make any
natural or regular part of that language."
Wordsworth finds a moral justification for poetry. The aim of the poet, in his view, is
to correct men's feelings, to render these feelings more consonant with eternal nature.
A poet provides us with spiritual exercises in order to give us new feelings and make
our feelings more sane and pure.
"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin fiom
emotion recollected in tranquillity; the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of
reaction, the tranquillity gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which
wasbefore the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself
actually exist in the mind. In this mood successful coinposition generally begins, and
in a mood similar to this it is carried on."
Wordsworth discussed the difference between the language of poehy and the
language of prose. He says: "It may be safely affirmed that there neither is, nor call
be, any essential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition."
This is a major point of disagreement between Wordsworth and Coleridge. Simila ly,
Wordsworth's views on metre are questioned by Coleridge. According to
Wordsworth metre is a kind of restraining iniluence. By its regularity, metre holds
passion in check. Also, metre seems to give poetry a kind of unreality:
"The end of poetry is to produce excitement in co-existence with an overbalance of
pleasure... Now the co-presence of something regular.. .cannot but have great
efficacy in tempering and restraining the passion by an intertexture of ordinary
feeling, and of feeling not strictly and necessarily connected with the passion".
The Romantics give a high place to the poet; they endow him wilh the ability to
speak to other men. Wordsworth asserts:
"He [the poet] is a man speaking to men; a man, it is true, endowed with more lively
sensibili~,more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human
nature, and a comprehensive soul than are supposed to be common among mankind;"
A poet is related to other men who have the same ingredients, but the poet has them
in greater measure.
Thus the preface discusses a wide range of topics concerning poehy and the .
innovations which Lyrical Ballads has introduced.
Self-check Exercise 7
r
2. Why did Wordsworth choose rustic life as his subject matter?
-- --
-- - - -
6. What is the difference between the language of poetry and the language of
prose in Wordsworth's view? Is it valid?
' 8. What is the position of a poet in society? How does he compare wit11
ordinary men?
/
27.8.2 Wordsworth's Practice of his Theory
For all his commitment to "the language really used by men" Wordsworth could not
help using archaisms, words of Latin origin, and inversion of normal word order in
several of his well-know poems including "Immortality Ode" and The Prelude. For
instance in "Immortality Ode", he used "apparelled" and "celestial", in The Prelude
he used "recreant", "inscrutable", "discordant" which are polysyllabic words derived
from Latin. Then there are archaisms like 'shod' (shoe) 'deigned (desired) 'springles'
(traps). There are also inversions, of word order in plurases like "by the vision
splendid'! for the sake of rhyme. In "Resolution and-Independence", we have:
Wordsworth and S.T. Coleridge met in 1795. Coleridge spotted talent in Wordsworth
and praised him as "the best poet of the age". The two fkiends met almost daily,
discussed poetry, and composed large quantities of poetry. Their association was so
close that the same phrases occur in the poems of both. They collaborated in some
poems; they exchanged thoughts and lines of poetry. Coleridge helped Wordsworth
in completing the latter's unfinished poems. Lyrical Ballads was the fruit of this
extraordinary partnership. The famous "Preface" of 1800 was also a result of
consultation between the two poets.
Of the two sorts of poetry based on the theme, Coleridge agreed to choose the
supernatural and Wordsworth the ordinary. Accordingly, Coleridge wrote "The
Ancient Mariner" and Wordsworth wrote many of his poems for the Lyrical Ballads,
Coleridge tries to differentiate between the two key terms, 'fancy' and 'imagination' in
the same book. He called irnagination the "shaping and modifling" power, fancy, the
"aggregative and associative" power. The former "struggles to idealize and to unify",
while the latter is only "a mode of memory emancipated from the order of time and
space". To illustrate his point, Coleridge said that Milton had a highly imaginative,
mind whereas Cowley had a fanciful one. Imagination itself is of two kinds, primary
and secondary. Primary imagination, in Coleridge's view, is the organ of common
perception through the senses, secondary imagination is poetic vision. The latter one
is the faculty that the poet ideally exercises. Fancy seems to correspond with the
eighteenth century notion of wit in poetry the faculty that enables the poet to put
together metaphors and similes. Coleridge criticizes the mechanical sort of apparatus
in poetry, exemplified by the fancy, which the imagination transcends. The use ofthe
secondary imagination is a mystical operation. The secondary imagination mediates
between.man and nature and indicated the organic unity of the universe. Coleridge's
discussion of Wordsworth's faults and merits is a balanced presentation. I-lis criticism
of Shakespeare and other Elizabethan playwrights is of great value. He attempted to
find "the essences of Shakespeare's ideas to discover the laws that a great work of art
creates within itself'. He explained the nature of poetic expression and sought to
ahswer the question 'What is poetry"? His views on criticism are particularly Introduction
significant as he was also an accomplished poet. '
Coleridge is remembered for three poems, The Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan and
Christabel. All the three have the stamp of originality, all of them arise from the
w ~ l of d dreams, the subsonscious. The Ancient Mariner is a ballad with memorable
i h g c s and phrases. Kubia Khan is a vision poem seen in an opium dream.
Christabel is a poetic fragment which evokes the medieval atmosphere through
suggestion.
As a literary theorist and as a poet, Coleridge made original contributions and his
influence in these two areas is permanent.
Self-check Exercise 8
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2. What are the positive aspects of Wordsworth's collaboration with Coleridge?
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4. &plain Coleridge's ideas on fancy and imagination.
Byron's rep~tationas a poet and'as a personality outside his own country was
immense. He had influenced several French and German poets. His life itself was
like a romantic poem and he is the hero of his poems. The 'Byronic hero" has
Ronrantic Poet? become a critical term to describe a youthful, daring, passionate, cynical, moody and
rebellious figure. This type appeared first in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a long
poem which describes in Spenserian stanza, a tour in which Ihe hero contemplates on
the decaying monuments of European civilization and on human achievement. Byron
describes the famous Coliseum in the following words:
Byron was unlike other Romantic poets except, perhaps, Shelley. Also, he did not
have much respect for the others because of his aristocratic background. Augustan
wit and elegance suited his elitist tastes better than rustic life and common speech.
He had great admiration for Alexander Pope unlike several romantic poets. He felt
that measured against the poetic practice of Pope, he and his contemporaries were "all
in the wrong; one as much as another.. . we are upon a wrong revolutionary poetical
system, or systems, not worth a damn in itself".
Byron's forte is his verse satire which is not surprising because of his admiration for
Pope and other Augustan writers. English Bards and Scotell Reviewers (1 809)
written in the popular Augustan verse form of the heroic couplet is brilliant. Don
Juan (1818-21) written in ottava rirna is an unfinished satire. It is described as a
picaresque novel in verse in which a variety of themes, styles and tones are used.
Considered Byron's best, Don Juan is a criticism of life. Goethe called it "a work of
a boundless genius". Byron states his poetical preferences and prejudices thus:
The lone-of the poem is characteristic of Byron's verse satires. In Don Juan "he
sought to depict life in the comic spirit, to strip off the tinsel of sentiment and
illusion".
His other verse satires are Beppo and The Vision oj'Jzrdgment. FIe also wrote two
powerful dramas, Manfred and Cain. Russell Noyes says: ''By the measure of his
titanic energy and his impassioned self assertion, Byron has given us a more potent
expression of 'raw and naked humanity' than all the romantic poets put together.. .He
has given us masterly pictures of love, hate, patriotism, honour, disdain, revenge,
remorse, despair, awe, mockery".
Shelley, like Blake, was a poet of prophecy and of vision. "Ode to the West Wind''
concludes with the prophecy:
Like Wordsworth Shelley spent a good deal of time in the contelnplation of natural
phenomena. He believed that Nature was the outward manifestation of the inner,
divine beauty. He called the inner reality, 'Light', 'Beauty' of 'Sustaining Love' and he
tried to identify himself wit11 this.
Shelley was fascinated with clouds, wind, waterfalls and such other natural
phenomena. They became symbols of great significance to him. The cloud
represents the cyclic mutation of water and it also symbolises mutability and
permanence inherent in the human spirit.
Light and sound attracted him. He found music everywhere; in fact, he heard a 'vast
universal symphony': His own aspirations, his own poetic fervour are like the skylark a
which soars above scorning the ground. And the music of the skylark's song would
inspire
Among the Romantic poets, John Keats's dedication to poetry was tot& Wordsworth
and Coleridge were both interested in philosophy which deflected their attention;
Blake's didactic intention coloured much of his work; Byron moved away from
poetry to active participation in the liberation of Greece; Shelley's poetry and political
beliefs were closely linked, But Keats strove hard throughout his brief career to
achieve the essence of poetry.
"On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" written in his twenty-first year may be
called his poetic efflorescence, In "Sleep and Poetry" he spoke of his poetic
aspirations and his dedication to poetry. "Endymion" was written to compete with
Shelley in writing a long poem. "Hyperion" was an ambitious venture a la Paradise
Lost.
Ronratttic Poets Keats wrote his most important poems in a period of nine months, January to
September 181 9. These are: Tlze Eve of St. Agnes, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, all the
six great odes, and Lalrlia.
, Not many poets including Shakespeare and Milton could write such distinguished
poetry at the age of twenty-four when Keats's poetic career practically came to an
end.
Keats published fifty-four poems in his life-time, another ninety-six worlis were ,
published posthumously; his letters number about 300. This is an unmatched
achievement within a short period of three years. Keats attempted a variety of poetic
forms; Romance in Hyperion and The Eve ofst. Agnes, epic in Hyperion. He wrote
different kinds of lyric: Hymn in Hynzn to Pan, the ballad in La Belle Dame Sans
Mel-ci, the sonnet in "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" and in the famous
odes. Lainia was composed in heroic couplets in the manner of Dryden.
The Pre-Raphaelite movement owes its origin to Keats's La Belle Dame Sans Meuci.
Browning, Tennyson, Hopkins and Yeats have acknowledged their debt to Keats.
Because of his achievement as a.poet and his wide-ranging and ever-growing
influence Keats deserves to be called the "Poet's Poet" an appellation Charles Lamb
gave Edmund Spenser in a different context.
Self-check Exercise 9
1, How is Byron different from the other Romantic poets?
27.11 SUMMING UP
This unit makes an attempt to give you a comprehensive and concise view of the
Romantic Movement in England.
Keep the definition and features of Romanticism in mind while reading the poems of
the Romantics. Also, try to examine Wordsworth's principles and his actual
practices.
You may also notice that although the Romantic poets have something in common,
each of them is unique in his own way. Each of them made his own distinctive
contribution to Romantic poetry.
Abrams, M.H. The Mirrar and the Lamp,1953 (An original work of criticism,
Discusses Romantic theory and critical tradition).
"The Romantic Period". The Norton Anthology of English Literature, I1 1962.
(Useful introduction to the Romantic Movement).
Bloom, Harold. 7Ae Visionary Company, 1960. (Brief discussions of the important
poems are given).
Cazamian, Louis. "The Romantic Period". A History of English Literature, Part II,
Book V,1947.
(tan insightfill discussion of the features of romanticism and its practitioners).
CnIeridge, S.T. Biographia Literaria, 1817, Chapters XIV and XWI.
Recluired reading for students of Romanticism. Coleridge dwells on his
disagreements with Wordsworth.
Ford, Boris (ed.) From Blake to Byron. T7ze Pelican Guide to English Literature,
Vol. 5, 1957. Extremely useful for the study of the Romantic period.
Noyes, Russell. "Introductory Survey". English Ronzantic Poetry and Prose. 1956,
(Valuable ancl comprehensive introduction.)
Weinberg, Kurt. "Romanticism" in Prilzceton Encyclopedia ofpoetry and Poetics.
Ed. Alex Preminger, Enlarged edn. 1974.
(Comprehensive account of Romanticism throughout Europe.)
Wordswortl~,William. "Preface" (1800) to Lyrical Ballads.
(A seminal statement reprinted in many anthologies of criticism.)
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27.1 4 ANSWER TO EXERCISES
SelfCheck Exercise I
1. 1798 to 1832
2. See 27.2, first four lines.
3. Extending voting rights to the middle class Growing importance of the
manufach~ringclass.
4. Tom Paine advocated a democratic republic for England through peaceful or
violent means.
5. See 27.2,second paragraph.
6. See 27.2 last paragraph.
Self-Check Exercise 2
/
Self-check Exercise 3
1. See 27.4, first paragraph
2. Read 27.4, second paragraph
3. Read 27.4, second paragraph
4. Read 27.4, fourth paragraph
5. Read 27.4, fifth paragraph
Self-check Exercise 4
1. See 27S.1
2, See 27.5.2
11
3. gee 27.5,3 j
Introduction I!
4. See 27,S.d
5. See 27.5.5 first paragraph
6. See27.5.6
Self-check Exercise 5
1. See 27.6
2. The Augustan Age
3. The ballad
I
4. See 27.6.1
5 . See27.6.1.1
6, See 27.6.1.2
I
7. See 27.6.1.3
1 , 8. See 27.6.1.4, first paragraph
9. See 27.6.1.4 fourth paragraph
I 10. See 27.6.2, third paragraph
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Self-Check Exercise 6
Self-check Exercise 8
1. See 27.8.2, first paragraph
2. See 27.8.3, first paragraph
3. See 27.8.3, last paragraph
4. See 27.9, second paragraph
5. See 27.9, second paragraph
Self-check Exercise 9
1. See 27.10.1, second paragraph
2. See 27.10.1, third paragraph
3. See 27.10.2, first paragraph
4. See 27.10.2, fifth paragraph
5. See 27.10.2, iast paragraph
1
6. See 27.10.3, fourth patagraph
1 7. See 27.10.3, fiflh paragraph
1 4. See 27,10.3, last paragraph.
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1
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